Chapter #33Somewhat Righting Your Wrongs by: rugal b.   You decide that running away would be the cowardly thing to do. Protecting your newly acquired home is important but you don't feel like you can just ignore the person who it belonged to either. Besides, if she is getting into problems with Chen you'll need to give the former girl an idea of what she's getting herself into and what she needs to do. That's a rich sentiment, though, considering you're were you are now because you couldn't deal with it.
Your thought that he might have noticed you is confirmed when he locks eyes and begins heading in your direction. You're locked into your decision now so you stand your ground. As soon as he's within a reasonable distance you hear a voice that, with one word, is a mixture of anger, confusion and fear. "You--" is all he's able to say.
You grab him by the arm. "Yes, me," you say as you pull him with you into the quiet walkway between the locker corridor and the library. "I know what you're going to want to talk abut but we can't really do it out in the open like that."
"Why," he asks.
"Because I needed to get out," you answer.
"Why me? What did I do to you," he sounds much more pleading, almost on the verge of tears.
"Opportunity," you say simply. "I didn't target you but I needed out of there fast. You were the first person I came across."
"Is this... is this who you are," he gestures towards himself. "Are you this guy?"
You pause for a second at that. You weren't Dane, not really, of course but neither do you want to expose your true identity. "In the same way you are," you say. "I was trapped there too for a few days."
"You were...?" She stops and looks down, "It's so awful! I... I only know who I am because I..."
"Is this hard," you ask, "If you don't want to get into--"
"Of course it's hard," he exclaims--damn near shouts actually--before calming down, "but I... I have to. Because I need to know. I need to know what's going on and who you are."
"I'm... I'm you," you tell him.
"No you're not," his voice rises again, "You're just--"
"Just someone who looks, sounds, thinks and acts like you," you say sternly. "Whoever I am under here doesn't matter. You've never heard of me so you'd get nothing out of it. I could be a guy or a girl, a student or a teacher. So it's easier to think of me as Evie Cummings for right now."
He looks shaken by that but seems to be able to calm himself if only a little. "So how did this happen," he asks quietly.
"It was... a book," you say trying to figure out how best to tell it. "It was something a friend and I found that claimed to be magic. We thought it was ridiculous but we were able to use these masks. We used them to become each other and had some fun like that but I wound up getting caught in this spiral of having to jump around to save myself. I wound up where you are by accident and that's when I found out how his life is. The things he's involved in. It was too dangerous."
"So you just stole my life," he asks incredulously, "and shoved me in it instead?!"
"I told you, it wasn't intentional," you tell his. You then point out his eye, "So how'd that happen?"
"It was..." he pauses at that and looks down. "There was this guy. He ran into me, I don't remember his name. I think he was Asian or something? But he seemed angry at me or at least at whoever this person is supposed to be. He said a lot of nasty stuff, cussed me out, then when I said I didn't remember he decided to... to 'help' me remember."
"By beating you up," you ask.
"And drilling it in what 'I' was supposed to be doing and where 'I' lived," he says. "I just... are you going to give me my life back?"
You give a pause at that. "I want to, but I can't go back to there either," you say. "But if I can't find something I want to help you out. I'm sorry about this, I really screwed up and wasn't thinking things through but I want to make it right somehow. So I'm going to try to find something that works for both of us."
"I just want my life back," he replies despondently. "But if you say you can help me... then fine. How do we do this?"
"I have to talk to someone," you tell him. "I'll look around for opportunities too. Can you meet me out by the portables after school?"
That gets a tentative but affirmative response and the two of you separate to head to your classes. You're left feeling like complete garbage by the time you walk into Duggan's class and have a hard time concentrating the entire period. Evie's a nice girl and you, through your own thoughtlessness, have wronged her by dropping her into a horrible situation. As you're sitting there in class you resolve to rectify that.
* * * * *
For much of the rest of the day you let Evie's persona take the lead as most of the classes are, to be blunt, nothing you're particularly excited for given the circumstances. As well, subsuming yourself in her personality means you don't have to let your mind wander. Duggan's class is nothing but if you spaced out in Fernandez's class that might be a bigger problem. Likewise it doesn't help that of Evie's main group of friends you only share one class--Goretsky's AP English II--with Paulina and none with Lindsay. Likewise you're forced to eat lunch with some of Evie's other, and to be honest less interesting, friends as Paulina and Lindsay both share a different lunch.
You are a bit grateful that she only shares one other class--Carr's AP Biology--with Andy. Not that you hate him or anything but because it lessens an otherwise awkward situation.
Soccer practice is much the same. Without Hannah there to needle you, you're able to perform rather well. It's enough that even the rather haughty captain of the JV squad, Luz Rosario, and her more taciturn co-captain, Becca Daly, acknowledge the improvement in their own ways. That makes you feel good as it Evie's getting better after only a little bit of mentoring from Anita by the end of the year she may be good enough for JV captain as Luz and Becca, both juniors, move up to varsity.
Your good mood is slightly dashed however when, on the way to your next class, you manage to spot Hannah with her arm around Marc as she gives him a small peck on the cheek. You're not sure if you're imagining things but you get the feeling she sees you and gives you a rather taunting look too but you brush that off as likely your own mind playing tricks on you.
But that encounter, such as it was, does give you an idea so you make a point to text Caleb.
caleb its will
do u have any mask
like 1 or 2
r they w/ u
at the school
ok
r u gonna b there after school
probably
im gonna stop by
i need 1
You've finally gotten an idea for a swap. You're not sure how you can pull it off though due to differing schedules and a lack of friendly relations. You admittedly stumbled into getting Evie after all. But it's still a win-win situation you think if you can pull it off: get a mask of Hannah. With that you could step in for her, give Evie her life back and throw Hannah into Dane's. The experience you have with Hannah doesn't paint a particularly pleasant picture and if she's as scheming as you (or Evie) believe then she could adjust much better than a Evie ever could.
It would also act as another favor to her because as Hannah you could break up with Marc and try to arrange it in such a way that Evie is around in a roundabout way of trying to set them up. It's the least you could do for her after all. As an added bonus, if Hannah's causing trouble for Anita that'd immediately nip that right in the bud.
But then you think to the life you've been living for the last few days.
It's a bit boring to be frank but if you're being honest with yourself then after what you saw of Dane's life, or Gordon's or your life since finding the book, boring might not be so bad. Evie's life is rather relaxing and it's comforting not having to look over your shoulder to see which psychopath is going to be on your ass at any given moment. There's also the luxury.
You should give the girl her life back but... you didn't explicitly promise to; only that you'd help her out. That's when an alternate idea hits you: when you make the mask of Hannah why not give it to Evie instead? Switch her with Hannah and her life seemingly improves itself in every way. She'd get the body she'd want, she'd be one of the top soccer players, she could do away with any schemes against Anita on Hannah's part... and she'd have Marc. It might not be in the way she'd have originally envisioned but she'd have him all the same.
So you weigh your options through the final two periods and once you've come to a decision you head out to the portables and wait for Evie to make her way out there so you can inform her of your decision. | Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
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